Hong Kong Property: The profit margin of second-hand private homes in Hong Kong in January was approximately 65%, reaching the second-highest level in 11 months.

Director Wang Pingdi of the Hong Kong Real Estate Research Department stated that according to the data from the Hong Kong Real Estate Information Research Department, based on known second-hand residential purchase prices registered with the Land Registry, and after deducting known internal transfers, special transaction cases, etc., the profit ratio in January was recorded at about 65.1%. This is a slight decrease of about 0.8 percentage points compared to approximately 65.9% in December last year, but it is still the second highest in 11 months. Since it takes time from signing the sales contract to submitting it for registration with the Land Registry, the registered cases in January 2026 mainly reflect the market conditions in December 2025. Compared to the rise in property prices in January, the profit ratio slightly declined, which is believed to be related to the distribution of holding periods of second-hand residential registered cases during the period. Among the known second-hand residential registered cases with purchase prices in January, only the proportion of cases with holding periods exceeding 5 to 10 years increased compared to the previous month, from around 24.2% in December to approximately 26.4% in January, an increase of about 2.2 percentage points. The proportions of registered cases in other holding period categories all decreased compared to the previous month, with cases holding for over 20 years accounting for about 16.2%, a decrease of about 0.3 percentage points, those holding for 5 years or less accounting for about 14.2%, a decrease of about 0.8 percentage points, and those holding for over 10 to 20 years accounting for about 43.1%, a decrease of about 1.2 percentage points. Although property prices have rebounded since the second half of last year, they are still lower than the historic high in 2021 and the peak in 2019. Therefore, the profit ratio for second-hand residential registered cases with holding periods exceeding 5 to 10 years is relatively low, recording only about 18.3% in January, far below the market average of about 65.1% and also lower than the profit ratio of about 43.2% for cases holding for 5 years or less. Therefore, the increase in the proportion of cases holding for over 5 to 10 years has contributed to the slight decrease in the profit ratio in January. Despite the slight decline in the profit ratio of known second-hand residential registered cases with purchase prices in January, it is expected that property prices will continue to rise this year as they have bottomed out and started to rebound last year. It is believed that the upward trend in profit ratios will remain unchanged during the period.